Some people who control the money in certain companies just can’t seem to get out of their own way…and some of them aren’t even that good at crunching the numbers, if we’re being honest!

In this story, a worker received some pushback after they took a client out to dinner, so all they could do was maliciously comply and follow the rules, even though it ended up costing the company more money in the long run.

Let’s take a look!

Customer does not want to approve expense report for going less than 1% over when taking a client to dinner, OK then.

“I was on an off-site short-term project.

Coming from one of the cheapest to live countries in Europe and staying for months in Singapore (project location), I had found some places that I could be eating for pretty cheap and the food was good and within my taste palate.

We were getting $60 per day for food expenses, but I was spending somewhere around $25-30 on average with the highest ever getting to just under $50.

Short project going long (drawn over 10 months by the point of the story) and our customer’s client is raising a ton of issues (70% of them not really an issue). Discussed this a few times with some guys in my company and a manager told me to take the client out for a dinner and some drinks.

Okay, no problem!

He would confirm the extra expense, just be careful to not go too much overboard on the expense. Specifically asked what that means and he told me try to not go over $200-250.

We go out and neither me nor the client really drink much, so we end up having some food and a drink each. The guys at the restaurant know me well by that point and almost always do some rounding on the bill or bring something extra to the table on the house and with them bringing plenty finger food I end up with a bill of $60.68 (number adjusted to the random number above).

But yes, about 70 cents above the daily limit. Way below the $200+ allowance for that.

End of month I send the report in and put a special note for that day/night.

Huh?

Expense report goes through my company with no problems, but the customer (our company’s customer) flags that receipt up as not acceptable and not to be covered. They put me in direct communication with customer and Ι explain.

Nope. Not accepted – not covered.

Talk again with my company and tell them the situation and that manager X advised me to do so as well as mentioned he would confirm, but unfortunately the guy is out sick and not to return for at least 2 weeks.

The customer ‘must’ have this settled by the 15th of the month and “he wants to hear specifically from the manager that I was advised to act in such a way and approved by that manager” for him to cover it.

This is getting crazy and out of hand, so my boss (owner of our company), just covers it from his side. The full $60.68, not just the 0.68…

Jeez…

Customer says no receipt that goes over the $60 limit will be approved. Unfortunately for me the customer is local to Singapore and he randomly drops in at the job site… And I get to see him the day after the “resolution” above and all comments were written (in emails).

Face to face I tell him, you do realize that i spent on average less than $27/day from the allowed $60/day? This was laughable to be denied.

He probably was offended and he yells at me again the “No receipts over $60 will be covered”.

Well, cue malicious compliance.

It was time to play hardball.

At all three places that I eat every day for the past 10 months, they agree to print $60 receipts every time I eat at their place. They even agree to split in half the remaining value between me and a tip to the server.

I had requested for the entire amounts to go to the servers as tips as i just cared for the petty revenge, but apparently all of them felt a 100% tip every day is uncomfortable for them.

Next month expense report is sent out and the customer calls me directly seething and asks why every single daily receipt is at $60 from a specific date onwards. I just reply with “No receipts over $60 will be covered, so I have to fit my meals within the allowance.”

He called to complain to my company, but the relevant person told him that they didn’t understand and to please explain what agreement was broken. He never came back as far as I know.

I continued charging the max for the remaining 2 months there netting me a cool $700 and even better service, food and chef experiments that were otherwise only internal to the staffs of the restaurants.

To be honest, I had to “pay” in having to deal with the idiot customer even more after that, but he was a handful before it as well…I can say that that project took at least a year off of my life with all the stress and nerves…”

Let’s see what Reddit users had to say about this.

This person shared their thoughts.

Another reader chimed in.

This individual spoke up.

Another person had a lot to say.

And this individual was shocked.

This is why people shouldn’t make a deal out of the small stuff when it comes to business…

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.